​Coming off back to back championships, the new look Tewksbury Huskies, looked to continue their 14 game winning streak the winter squad laid in place. Heading into the evening this looked to be almost impossible, starting the season off against division contender, the Flushing Pond BassHoles. The BassHoles added one of the league’s most sought after free agents, Scott Martell, and hard hitting, ROY nominee, Mike Nagle, to their already potent lineup.

Due to Megow’s inability to wrap it properly, and the Magic Man’s Opening Day disappearing act, the BassHoles found themselves short handed for the first games of the 2016 Summer season. Nagle would have to take the mound since the whole BassHole’s pitching staff was MIA, and he’d be squaring off against Huskies’ GM Dave O’Grady, who hasn’t been in a real starting pitcher role since the first winter season. Both pitchers started off a little shaky, but seemed to find their groove as the game went on. Nagle got lit up in the first inning, as the Huskies’ bats seemed to be in mid-season form. Tewksbury put up 8 runs in the first, with a few more robbed by the monster fence. Kevin MacDondald, after taking a season of paternity leave, showed no signs of degradation, knocking in half of the Huskies runs.

O’Grady looked better on the mound than many thought he would, holding the BassHoles hitless (and scoreless) through the first 2 and 2/3’s. It wasn’t so much as his pitching was over powering, as he had some great plays made in the field behind him, by Daryl Wolfenden and Tony Polozzotti. As the game progressed, O’Grady’s lack of SP experience started to show, as his arm tired, and Guluzian and Nagle started to take advantage. They worked some walks, and played some small ball, and got themselves on the board in the third inning. These two swinging BassHoles made some noise in the bottom of the 5th, loading the bases with only 1 out. They fell short, however, managing only to get 2 more runs across the plate.

The Huskies escaped, adding a 15th win to their streak. This game may have gone a different way if the BassHoles were whole. It will be interesting to see what happens when these two teams meet again in a few weeks.